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Center for Emerging Democracies Book Talk. Policing the Revolution: The Transformation of Security and Violence in Venezuela during Chavismo

Speaker: Rebecca Hanson, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Criminology & Law and Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida Respondent: Luciana Chamorro, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
4:00-5:30 PM
Room 555 Weiser Hall Map
Attend in person or via Zoom. Zoom registration at https://myumi.ch/XGe2A

Since the mid-2000s Venezuela has been ranked one of the most violent countries in the world as homicides and police violence skyrocketed. Much has been written about the country’s turn to Chavismo but scholarship has ignored what will perhaps be the revolution’s most important legacy: how Chavista policies transformed coercive power and the security landscape.

In Policing the Revolution, Rebecca Hanson provides the first in-depth analysis of policing and security policies during the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, focusing on the experiences of three groups: police officers, police reformers, and residents of neighborhoods most affected by violence. Drawing on ethnographic, interview, and survey research collected over ten years, she analyzes how security policies within the context of the pink tide and later turn to authoritarianism contributed to the expansion of lateral violence and the pluralization of non-state armed actors. Far from the always-already authoritarian project proposed by many scholars and pundits, Hanson shows that the Bolivarian Revolution was defined by highly contested and contrasting visions of security that resulted in a fragmented and inconsistent ordering of state and society. Moreover, by pairing the vantage point of street-level police officers with that of ordinary barrio residents, she provides a unique analysis of how insecurity during revolution was experienced “from below.”

If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.
Building: Weiser Hall
Event Type: Lecture / Discussion
Tags: democracy
Source: Happening @ Michigan from Center for Emerging Democracies, International Institute